Caenorhabditis elegans anti-apoptotic gene ced-9 prevents ced-3-induced cell death in Drosophila cells.
ced-9, a member of the bcl-2 gene family in Caenorhabditis elegans plays a central roles in preventing cell death in worms. Overexpression of human bcl-2 can partially prevent cell death in C. elegans. However, it remains to be elucidated whether ced-9 can regulate cell death when expressed in other organisms. We demonstrated that the CED-9 protein is co-localized with BCL-2 in COS cells and Drosophila Schneider's L2 (SL2) cells, suggesting that the site of CED-9 action is located to specific cytoplasmic compartments. Overexpression of ced-9 only poorly protected cells from the death induced by ced-3 in HeLa cells, but ced-9 significantly reduced the cell death induced by ced-3 in Drosophila SL2 cells. Furthermore, apoptosis of SL2 cells that was induced by a Drosophila cell-death gene, reaper, was shown to be partially prevented by ced-9, bcl-2 and bcl-xL. These results suggest that the signaling pathway that is required for the anti-apoptotic function of bcl-2 family members, including ced-9, is conserved in Drosophila cells. In addition, SL2 cells provide a unique systems for dissecting the main machinery of cell death.
Hisahara
S
S
Department of Neuroanatomy, Biomedical Research Center, Osaka University Medical School, Osaka, Japan.
Kanuka
H
H
Shoji
S
S
Yoshikawa
S
S
Okano
H
H
Miura
M
M
D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000235:genetics*; D051017:Apoptosis Regulatory Proteins; D019556:COS Cells; D017173:Caenorhabditis elegans / Q000235:genetics; D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins; D020169:Caspases; D016923:Cell Death / Q000235:genetics; D002460:Cell Line; D003546:Cysteine Endopeptidases / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster / Q000166:cytology / Q000235:genetics; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D019254:Genes, bcl-2 / Q000502:physiology; D006367:HeLa Cells; D015801:Helminth Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D010455:Peptides / Q000502:physiology; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology; D019253:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2
D051017:Apoptosis Regulatory Proteins; D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins; C087233:Ced-9 protein, C elegans; D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D015801:Helminth Proteins; D010455:Peptides; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins; D019253:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2; C086973:rpr protein, Drosophila; D020169:Caspases; D003546:Cysteine Endopeptidases; C089223:ced-3 protein, C elegans